35 Weeks

We made it through the holidays!  I was so exhausted just from hosting Christmas at my house, putting up and taking down decorations, and having guests.  It all went great and I'm glad it's over now.  I'm hoping I'll have the month of January to just relax before the baby gets here.

Here is our family on Christmas:

 

 

 

Also, me at 35 weeks.  Kind of hard to see...

 



Baby feels like he is up in my ribs all the time now.  Sometimes he kicks and squirms so much it starts to get painful.  E has gotten a lot less freaked out about the baby moving now and even plays little games with him where he will tap on my belly and wait for Langston to kick back.  It's so stinking cute!  Nothing new to report really except I noticed I have a little linea negra now.  Thank goodness that goes away after pregnancy.

I have my first weekly appointment on January 9th. We will get our last ultrasound to make sure baby is head down and get an estimate on how big he is.  I'm feeling ready for him to be here and terrified of him being here all at the same time. 

-L

33 Weeks

This past Thursday I had my regular OB appointment.  My ute is measuring just a little bit big, but nothing to even think twice about.  We talked about how she will most likely not be the doctor delivering Langston.  I knew this was a possibility since we are in a group practice, but I think I was in denial about it.  Because now I'm freaking out thinking about another doctor coming in and being pushy or not respecting my birth plan.  E said not to worry he will control the situation, but I guess we will just see when we get there.  Ugh.  Our next appointment is January 9th where we will also have an ultrasound to make sure he is head down and how big he is.  We will then start having weekly appointments!!  Ahh!! He is going to be here so soon!!

I have been doing a little organization, decorating and packing in the nursery everyday.  I swear I pack and repack his hospital bag a million times.  I still need to wash his clothes for the hospital, but besides that he is ready to go!  I've become a little obsessive with organizing his nursery over and over again too.  I will for sure post pics of his nursery as soon as his changing table comes in during Christmas.

I have looked at  a lot of lists, but I would love suggestions on what to pack for myself for the hospital too.  I don't want to over pack like I do for everything, but I don't want to be there needing something from home either.  What did you girls take?

-L

32 Weeks and Nashville Baby Shower

32 Weeks

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have much to update on my pregnancy for this week.  Pretty much more of the same.  That ligament that runs down to my private area is still hurting and I'm thinking it probably will until after I have him.  Also lately my belly is hurting.  It's hard to describe the pain except that I can't tell if it's skin stretching or fine muscles and ligaments stretching right under the skin.  The pain is right above my belly button and does feel a little better if I massage it a bit. 

 

We see my OB on Thursday just for a regular check up.  I think the next time we see her around 36 weeks I will be getting another ultrasound to see how big the baby is.  I'm praying he is normal size and there will be no reason to schedule an induction.

 

 

So this weekend two of my best friends hosted an amazing baby shower for me!  It was exactly what I wanted being small, cozy, and thoughtful.  Here are a ton of pics!

 

Two of my friends.  The one on the left is due March 15th!

 

 

-L

 

 

 



31 Weeks

Long time no blog!  I honestly have no clue why I haven't blogged in so long.  I'm so sorry ladies, and I'm going to try to catch up with all of you this week!

I am now 31 weeks!! What?!  Where has the time gone?  And I know the next two months are going to fly by.

Here is a pic of me from 30 weeks bare belly and all haha! 

Last time I was on here I was letting you all know I had found out I have gestational diabetes.  Well, it's really not as bad as I thought it would be.  I started out testing my blood sugar 6 times a day, but since it's doing well I only test 4 times a day now.  It's very easy to keep my levels controlled unless I splurge a little.  As long as my levels are controlled, I am no different from any other pregnant chica.  Thank goodness!  My diabetes doctor also wants me to work out regularly which wasn't a problem before, but the last few weeks I have been overly exhausted and having quite a lot of ligament pain in my lady bits area.  So I've just been taking it easy.

I guess the best part of being on this diet is that I've only gained 10lbs so far which I never in a million years thought I would be able to do during pregnancy.  I fully expected to gain like 50lbs lol.  And so far no stretch marks (knock on wood).

A month ago my mom hosted my Missouri baby shower which I'll do another post of pics of that.  It was great!  I have my Nashville shower this weekend and I'm super excited about that as well.

We finally named our kid.  His name is Langston Lee.  Lee is mine, my mom's, and my dad's middle name so I wanted to carry on something from my side of the family too.  Langston is just something E and I came up with and we love it!  Once the name was settled I was able to buy his coming home outfit:

I know it will be cold when he is coming home so I also bought little white leggings to go underneath this.

Sorry this post was all over the place, but I had so much to update y'all on!

-L

26 Weeks and Gestational Diabetes Talk

Sorry it's been a little while since I've blogged, but I've been so busy/exhausted lately!  We are now 26 weeks.  I feel like this pregnancy is just flying by now. 

My first baby shower hosted by my mom in Missouri is this weekend!  Can you believe it?!  It's already time for a shower!!  I feel like I have so much to do before he gets here so this shower will help us start getting the things together we will need for him.  My second and last shower with my girlfriends here in Nashville is on December 7th.

Ok now for the bad news.......

I took my 1hr glucose test in week 24 and failed with a number of 145.  So just five over.  I thought for sure I would pass the 3hr since I read that happens all the time to girls.  I went in last week for the 3hr test.  It wasn't too bad just really boring sitting there for 3hrs.  After the test I went and had lunch with a friend.  As soon as lunch was over my doctor's office was calling me.  I had failed the 3hr test.  Not good news.  I'm scheduled to meet with a endocrinologist that specializes in gestational diabetes and then a dietitian this Wednesday.  So basically I'll have a lot more answers after that.

In the meantime, I've changed my diet to low carb and high protein.  I already work out a lot so that doesn't need to be changed.  There are so many things I'm having trouble making peace with at the moment:

1. Will the baby be too big or have any health issues?
2. I'm worried about the placenta deteriorating
3. I really really wanted a natural med-free birth and now it looks like I might not get that.
4. Why does it have to be one thing after the other?  I thought if I had all that struggle getting pregnant surely God would give me a smooth pregnancy.  Guess that's not happening.
5. I'm scared to prick my finger several times a day.

I know this is all such small things in the grand scheme of coming out of this with a beautiful baby.  And of course I will do anything and everything for him to be healthy, but this situation sucks.  It's not the end of the world, but it sucks. 

Hopefully after I meet with the specialist I can let y'all know what this means for me and baby the rest of the pregnancy.

-L

23 Weeks!

I don't know how weeks have gone by so fast that I didn't update! Nothing super exciting has happened really. I'm lucky to have had a boring pregnancy so far.

Here I am yesterday at exactly 23 weeks:

We had our anatomy scan in the 20th week and everything looked perfect!  He is a pretty stubborn baby when it comes to ultrasounds so we go back next week to get better pictures of his heart. They said his heart looks perfect, but she couldn't get him to lay still enough for a good pic of all four chambers. This next u/s will apparently be our last time to see him before his birth!  Here is my little one from week 20:

I'm feeling pretty good these days.  I'm noticing its getting a lot harder to bend over though.  I have to maneuver myself just so to zip my boots or put socks on. Also, I'm very very nervous about my belly getting bigger. Two things I'm freaked out about is stretch marks and my belly button popping out. I feel like I will just wake up with a stretch mark one morning and that terrifies me. My belly button is already getting pretty shallow so I'm certain that will pop out at some point. And just as of last night I started having pain in/behind my belly button when I would turn over in bed or use my core muscles any.  For those of you farther along than me or who have already delivered, when did either of hose things happen to you or did they not happen at all?

Ok enough for now. Have a great week!

-L

Half way there!!!!

How did we get here??!!!  I never thought I would make it to the half way point in pregnancy and here we are!  It's such an amazing feeling to know I'm half way to seeing my little one.

 I've been so obsessed with consignment shopping for him. I like to dig through all the stuff to find the boutique items.  They are like little treasures when you can find them.  So far I've decided his style will be as diverse as mine.  No need to stick with one type of look for us :) 

This week brought on a new symptom....heartburn.  Ugh, it's awful!  I've never really had it before so this is not fun.  I've also had a couple really bad headaches this week too.  But I will say overall I'm feeling pretty good! The best part of this week was just feeling his movement get stronger.  I can't wait for E to be able to feel him too!

-L

Babymoon!

We are back from our babymoon/anniversary trip!  I have been so bad at posting on time, but the exhaustion continues.  This baby is wearing me out already!

Here are some pics from our vacation in the Dominican Republic.

 

17 Week Bump

 

Gorgeous lobby of our resort!

 

 

Belly view of the beach

 

E and I

 

View from our balcony

 





And my 18 Week Bump

 

 

Vacation was so relaxing and it was great to spend time with E alone before the baby comes. 

 

Like I said earlier I am still so exhausted.  I'm thinking I'll never feel energy again, but that's ok.  I just started feeling the baby kick and squirm around in there!  It's such a cool, but strange feeling.  We don't go back to the dr until September 19th and that's also our anatomy scan.  I'm hoping I can get some better pics of him then.

 

Also, I've started putting together ideas for the nursery.  So I'll share those with you when I figure out how to do an inspiration board.

 

Hope you are all doing great!!

 

-L





Gender Reveal Party

We are so freaking excited and over the moon right now!  I really don't know how to put this all into words so I think pictures tell a better story....

Parents to be!

Booze was promised and plentiful

 

 

 

 

 

I've been friends with these two girls for a decade!  The one on the left is also having a baby due about a month and a half after me!

My momma

 

 

 

And now the video of the big reveal!!

 

 

I'm already so in love!!

-L

15 Weeks

Wow! I'm posting earlier in the week than usual.  That's because I feel a million times better!!  The nausea is gone unless I eat sweets before I have protein in my tummy.  Also, I have more energy than before.  I'm not having a ton of energy, I still get tired after doing too much, but I at least have energy to hit the gym again and do normal things.  It's sooo much better right now!

So I freaked when I saw this pic we took last night:

Where did that belly come from??!!!  I also had a mild freak out about weight gain.  I have read all your blogs so I know I'm not alone in this.  I just feel like I look so different so I started panicking about what is to come.  My mom told me to just weigh myself in the morning (something I haven't done since 10 weeks) and make sure I'm not gaining too fast.  I have been eating pure crap so I was sure when I got on the scale this morning I was going to see a number way too high for this point in pregnancy.  To my surprise I weighed 1.7lbs LESS than I did at 10 weeks!!!!  I know you are not supposed to lose weight during pregnancy so I'm going to start keeping track of my weight and calories from now on and talk to my doctor about it at next weeks appointment.  However, I am happy that I haven't gained a ton already.  So basically I'm up 2lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight.

I also went to Motherhood Maternity and bought myself two new maternity/nursing bras and they are heaven!! I don't care if they look like grandma bras because my boobs are so much happier now! 

This is the week!!! We found out if baby is a boy or girl on Saturday.  I am so freaking excited/nervous/anxious and all those feelings you get in your tummy before a big day.  I don't care what this baby's sex is I'm just excited to say he or she and have a name for this nugget.  I will be updating you all on Monday!!! 

Have an awesome week :)

-L

14w 4day

Still feeling like crap.  I got to a point this week where I felt like something must not be right for me to feel this awful in the 2nd trimester.  It's not just the nausea that is bad, I'm having body aches and extreme fatigue.  Happily though, today I am feeling a little better.  I'm praying that it's only up hill from here.  Because of feeling so bad I don't have a great post today and I most certainly do not have my chalkboard made up.  But here is a pic of the bump from yesterday:

Also, I am in the midst of planning our gender reveal party.  I know some people think these are tacky, but you know what, this is my life and I'm excited about it.  I've seen on the forums where a lot of girls say you are an attention whore if you have one.  I honestly do not like a lot of attention since I'm very shy, but I felt like after all the struggles this is going to be a really good moment to share with our immediate family and some very close friends.  The party is set for August 17th and I'll do a post on it with pics of everything then.  For now, here is a sneak peak:

 

Hope you have a great weekend!!

 

-L

13weeks 4days

Oh my, this week has thrown me for a loop.  Just when I was starting to feel great, three days ago morning sickness and extreme fatigue came back!  What the what??  Everyone promised that I would feel amazing in my second trimester....grrr.  It's okay though, I will live.  But that does explain why I look like crap below and my workout clothes (no I never made it to the gym) are so mismatched here.

Also, I gave in an bought a pair of maternity jeans and I pretty much love them.  I'm ashamed to say that since I had such a strong hatred of how they look.  But I couldn't take my normal jeans anymore.  Even with a rubber band they just felt really uncomfortable where they were hitting on my stomach.  You know what, the new jeans are actually pretty cute if you don't raise up your shirt lol. 

I am so anxious for August 17th when we will be having our gender reveal party!!  I keep going back and forth on whether this is a girl or boy. It's driving me insane!!  I can't wait to know so I can start buying clothes!!

-L

Week 12 and NT Scan

Such a monumental week in our eyes.  Every week is such a blessing, but this one really was a big one for us.

First, we went public.  This is the pic we posted on Facebook:

I couldn't believe all the sweet comments we got on there!  I felt really exposed, but there is no going back now!


Then, we had our NT Scan.  When we got there the tech said my bladder wasn't full enough and baby was acting like a psycho so she needed me to go back out to the waiting room.  Apparently for this test they need baby to be nice and lazy.  Mine was jumping all around and having a party in there.  So I drank a bottle and a half of water and was almost in tears with how bad I had to pee!!  We went back in and my bladder was then too full so I had to go let half of it out.  Yes that is pure torture when you just want to let it all out.  Anyway, it took some jiggling and coughing, but finally baby behaved and we got the pics the doctor needed.  Everything looked perfect and within normal range.

I did find out my placenta is attached to the back so she said I should be able to feel the baby move more easily. 

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful week!!

 

-L

11weeks 3days

We are nearing the end of what I and my doctor consider the first trimester!  There are so many different calculations on what is the end of a first trimester that I just decided to ask my doctor and go with her opinion.

I am so happy that I can now find baby's heartbeat immediately every time I try with our home Doppler.  Sometimes I listen to reassure myself, but mostly I listen just to have that connection with the baby.  I have been feeling pretty good lately.  The fatigue is still there, but my boobs don't hurt as much and the morning sickness is gone!  In one month we will find out if this baby is a he or a she!!  I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about it!!

I am still in all my regular clothing thank goodness!  If I wear jeans I do need the assistance of a hair tie to keep them closed, but I'm holding out until our vacation at the end of August before I buy any maternity bottoms.

But I did make one big baby buy yesterday.  I found this City Select stroller brand new for a steal on Craigslist!  I couldn't get out there so my sweet BFF ran out to meet the guy and buy it for me until I could meet up with her that afternoon.  I'm really excited about it!  E was super hesitant as I don't think he realizes there is truly going to be a baby here in about six months.  He might be in a mild state of denial lol.  But once I got it home he got really excited too.

-L

10weeks 4days

Holy hell we are in the double digits!!!! 

I think I need to start taking these pics in the morning before I'm so bloated from all my meals during the day.


We went to our first OB appointment yesterday.  We absolutely love our OB!!  She was amazing!  I got the normal pap, blood work, and peed in a cup.  Then we went for the ultrasound.  Baby is so much bigger!!  What we saw in person was a lot more detailed than these pics.  We could see the fingers, toes, that baby made little fists over it's face and had it's legs drawn up crossed.  Seriously so freaking cute!!

We have our NT Scan in two weeks and I plan to go public on July 22nd!! 

-L

9weeks 1day

And we have made it to another glorious week!  For some reason when I first found out I was pregnant I kept telling myself if I could just make it to 9 weeks I would feel so much better about this pregnancy.  Truth is, I don't think I'll ever stop worrying about this baby even when it's 50.

So on Friday my Doppler came in the mail.  I tried to find the heartbeat for a while, got frustrated, took a nap, and then tried again.  After five min I found baby's heartbeat.  I don't think the Doppler was picking up the number correctly and I lost it toward the end of this video, but I'm so happy I found it!!  But, since Friday I have tried a few times and can't find it.  I'm hoping that baby is just hiding in there and I have nothing to worry about. 

I jumped the gun maybe a little and already booked my gender scan! I'm so excited about it too!!  On August 17th my parents will be coming in town from MO, we will go to the ultrasound (making sure the tech doesn't tell us the sex), then have a gender reveal party that evening with friends and family.  I have so many ideas for the party and can't wait to share them with you.

Everyone keeps asking me what I think I'm having and I have no clue!  I hope that is normal to not have any intuition at all about it lol.  E thinks 100% that it is a girl.  I guess we will see on August 17th!

-L

8weeks 3days

Some weeks it is just so hard for me to get around to the chalkboard pic.  I'm just so exhausted 80% of the time.  So exhausted I have no energy to put on makeup.  I look rough.   But here it is:

This week was just more of the same.  Exhaustion, nausea, sore boobs, bloated, and one I haven't talked about acne.  Yes after all the years I had acne, I had finally gotten my skin perfectly clear right before I got pregnant.  Now I have broken out like crazy!!  I stopped using Proactive just because I'm not sure about the ingredients and I don't want to chance it.  So I've been using Burt's Bees Face Wash for sensitive skin.  Not working.  It's awful!  So yesterday I finally ordered Belli's Anti-Blemish Facial Wash.  It should be here in a few days and I will let you know what I think.  If you have suggestions on this or another product I should try I would love to hear them!

 

 

 

Also, while I'm talking pregnancy products I have been using Mama Mio's Tummy Rub Butter for the past couple of weeks.  I really do love this stuff!  It feels great and smells even better.  Now do I think it will keep me from stretch marks?  Not so sure.  I'm leaning more on genetics for that gift, but it really can't hurt.  Plus my skin has been so dry this feels great!

 

That is all for today girls.  Hope you have a great week!!

-L